The Paper Trail: December 3, 2024

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for December 3, 2024

Trump teams to deploy throughout government after reaching agreement with the Biden administration: President-elect Trump reached an agreement with the Biden administration that will allow his transition teams to deploy throughout federal government. But he’s still skipping several important transition steps, including signing an ethics agreement and letting the FBI conduct background checks on potential nominees. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

GAO saved the federal government $67.5 billion in fiscal 2024: As of March 2024, nearly 5,500 of GAO’s recommendations were unfulfilled. If they were implemented, GAO estimates they could generate $106 to $208 billion in financial benefits. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Millions from tax refunds go to pay fees, report finds: Americans paid private tax preparers nearly $850 million in fees for temporary bank accounts and loans needed to receive tax refunds in the most recent tax year, according to a new government report that faulted the IRS for failing to warn consumers about the expense. (Julie Zauzmer Weil, Washington Post)

As Congress feuds over farm bill, growers are “stuck in limbo”: Congress is feuding over a new farm bill, leaving American farmers and families on food assistance without an update to the legislation that controls how much federal support they receive. (Maya C. Miller, New York Times)

“Havana Syndrome” victim asks Congress to probe State Department: Mark Lenzi, a senior Foreign Service officer and a victim of the so-called “Havana Syndrome,” called on Congress to investigate the State Department for whistleblower retaliation, alleging he’s being forced out of his diplomatic post after asking to brief lawmakers about the mysterious illness. (Andrew Desiderio, Punchbowl News)

She believed she was an FBI “asset.” The scam drained her life’s savings: Scammers are leveraging the veneer of U.S. government authority to trick people into handing over their savings. The number of victims and financial losses are growing, but the actual toll could be far worse because many victims are too ashamed to come forward. (Michelle Singletary, Washington Post)

Looking Ahead to 2025:

→ Tracking Trump’s Cabinet and staff nominations

→ Meet the billionaires working with Trump on his second term

→ Kash Patel has plan to remake the FBI into a tool of Trump

→ How Trump plans to seize the power of the purse from Congress

→ Musk’s DOGE plans rely on White House budget office. Conflicts await

→ Long a “crown jewel” of government, NIH is now a target

→ Why the House GOP’s big immigration crackdown may be doomed

→ Texas is gearing up in a big way for Trump’s mass deportation campaign

Supreme Court Ethics

Inside the Supreme Court ethics debate: Who judges the justices?: In private meetings and memos in 2023, the justices made new ethics rules for themselves — then split on whether they could, or should, be enforced. One year later, the justices’ internal debate has spilled into a wider one split along partisan lines. (Jodi Kantor and Abbie VanSickle, New York Times)

Dobbs Aftermath

A third woman died under Texas’ abortion ban. Doctors are avoiding D&Cs and reaching for riskier miscarriage treatments: The death of Porsha Ngumezi heightens concern that abortion bans are causing doctors to diverge from the standard of care and try less-effective options that expose patients to more risks. (Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana, ProPublica)

Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law mostly can be enforced as lawsuit proceeds, court rules: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that most of Idaho’s first-in-the-nation law that makes it illegal to help minors get an abortion without their parents’ consent can take effect while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality continues. (Associated Press)

Russia-Ukraine War

Biden surges arms to Ukraine, fearing Trump will halt U.S. aid: The Biden administration is engaged in an 11th-hour scramble to provide Ukraine with billions of dollars in additional weaponry, a massive effort that is generating concerns about its potential to erode U.S. stockpiles and sap resources from other flash points. (Michael Birnbaum, Missy Ryan, and Siobhán O’Grady, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: U.S. will send Ukraine $725 million more in counter-drone systems, anti-personnel land mines (Tara Copp and Matthew Lee, Associated Press)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

U.S. lawmakers urge DOD to ground V-22 Ospreys: Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to ground the entire fleet of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys until persistent safety issues are resolved. They also called for Austin to release an investigation report which contains findings and recommendations regarding the V-22. (Naval Technology)

🔎 See Also: Family of airman killed in Japan Osprey crash files wrongful death lawsuit (Thomas Novelly and Konstantin Toropin, Military.com)

“Policy by PowerPoint”: Watchdog agency finds flaws in Air Force’s deployment revamp: According to the GAO, the Air Force’s revamped process for deploying personnel and aircraft has caused confusion across the service and has been met with reluctance at some military commands. (Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes)

Opinion: National Guard troops deserve equal GI Bill eligibility: Despite their shared training and deployments, National Guard members are not considered equal to their active duty counterparts when it comes to veteran benefits. (Daniel Elkins, Navy Times)

Business and Finance

Children illegally worked dangerous overnight shifts at pork processing plant, feds find: Federal inspectors found nearly a dozen children working dangerous, overnight shifts at a processing plant owned by one of the nation’s largest pork producers. Even though federal law prohibits minors from working in meat processing, children under 18 working in dangerous meat processing jobs is a widespread problem. (Kate Gibson, CBS News)

Amazon trucking contractors have higher rates of safety violations, CBS News investigation finds: Amazon contractors had average rates of speeding, texting, and other unsafe driving violations that were at least 89% higher than other carriers. In the past two years, at least 57 people have died in more than four dozen crashes involving federally regulated carriers shipping for Amazon. (Ash-har Quraishi et al., CBS News)

Health Care

Formaldehyde causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant. Little is being done to curb the risk: Formaldehyde is all around us and causes more cancer than any other chemical in the air. Federal regulators have known this for decades, but industry pressure has repeatedly thwarted government efforts to limit its health risks. (Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw, ProPublica)

HIV prevention pills should be free, but insurers are still charging: Tens of thousands of people vulnerable to contracting HIV are forced to pay for medication to prevent the virus, despite federal requirements guaranteeing free access to treatment. (Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post)

Nursing home industry wants Trump to rescind staffing mandate: COVID’s rampage through nursing homes killed more than 172,000 residents and spurred the biggest industry reform in decades: a mandate that homes employ a minimum number of nurses. But with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the industry is ramping up pressure to kill that requirement before it takes effect, leaving thousands of residents in understaffed homes. (Jordan Rau, KFF Health News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Border Patrol shrunk in Trump’s first term. Now he wants 10,000 more agents

→ 100+ unaccompanied kids found at U.S. border

→ The fight to stop New York cops from conspiring with ICE

Other News:

→ How Biden changed his mind on pardoning Hunter: “Time to end all of this”

→ GOP insiders sought Hegseth’s removal as leader of veterans’ group in 2016

→ Groups urge Congress to rein in federal bureaucracy after Supreme Court slashes agency authority

→ Senate approves promotion for general involved in Afghanistan exit after a Republican blocked it

→ House COVID-19 panel releases final report: 3 key takeaways

→ Landlords evicted Maui residents and housed wildfire survivors for more money. FEMA didn’t take basic steps to stop it

Upcoming Events

📌 Oversight of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. House Committee on the Judiciary; Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. Wednesday, December 4, 10:15 a.m., 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the United States Postal Service: Understanding Proposed Service Changes. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Thursday, December 5, 10:00 a.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Thursday, December 5, 10:00 a.m., HVC-210, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

📌 Human vs. Machine: The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence in the Law Enforcement Context. Cato Institute. Friday, December 6, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EST.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic: After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward. December 4, 2024 (PDF)

🔥📃 The Henry L. Stimson Center: The Ugly Truth about the Permanent War Economy: Evaluating arguments for the United States to spend more on national security – and the potential consequences of doing so. December 2, 2024

Nominations & Appointments

Pardons & Commutations

• Robert Hunter Biden